The Department of Surgery at the Washington School of Medicine (WUSM) requests continued funding to support a training grant in surgical oncology for surgical house officers who are planning careers in the specialties of general surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, and thoracic surgery. The grant will support an educational program in laboratory research in one of four basic science fields related to oncology: cell and integrative biology, immunobiology, molecular biology and molecular genetics. From three to five house officers, are selected annually for this research training program through a rigorous and highly competitive process. The majority of surgical oncology trainees will be from the Washington University School of Medicine, although on occasion, surgical residents from other clinical programs will be accepted. Thus far approximately seventy percent of participating resident surgeons, through intensive educational programs and monitored experiences in laboratory research, to become independent scientific investigators. Upon completing the research training program and the residency in clinical surgery the graduates are positioned to acquire faculty positions in academic departments of surgery to become leading clinical scientists. The success of this program to date is attested to by the fact that eleven house officers who have completed this research training program, and have subsequently completed their clinical residency, ten(90 percent) now hold full-time positions in academic departments of surgery in the United States. The Department of Surgery at the WUSM has 58,000 net square feet of laboratory research space including 45,000 net square feet in the Clinical Sciences Research Building (CSRB). In addition the basic science faculty members who will serve as preceptors occupy laboratory space totalling 21,000 net square feet. The relevant research laboratories are located in the CSRB, the McDonnel Sciences Building, the Cancer Research Building, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The participating clinical science and basic science faculties have grant support in excess of $10,000,000. The clinical training of the residents will be in the clinical facilities of the Barnes-Jewish Health Care System. In 1997 there were 4,232 newly diagnosed cases of malignancy admitted to the hospital.